Ariadne: Almost an Alpha | ✓

Chapter 59 - Finally Subdued

Chapter 59 - Finally Subdued

    In the midst of all the hub-bub, when I introduce myself to Alpha Addison, his face freezes briefly.

    "It is you," Alpha Addison says softly, surprised. He looks as if he wants to say more, but he decides not to, changing the subject. "My trackers believe he went north using the river. I have a few of them going that way now, but can you confirm his location?"

    "Yes, give me a moment."

    I turn away from all the gazes on me, squeeze my eyes shut, and concentrate, for the first time in my life trying to focus on my link with Cain instead of shutting it out. I imagine the connection like a tether linking us together. Normally, wolves would only use the link to send messages. Anything else is invasive and uncomfortable. Instead of pushing messages across the tether though, I grab at it, dragging him unwillingly into my mind. I feel him resisting, pushing me out, but I push forward, much the same as he used to do to me.

  He's on the run. I feel him struggling between keeping his wall up and getting away as fast as he can. In seconds, his mind opens to me completely.

    It feels odd, at first, being connected to someone's consciousness in such an invasive manner. I can hear, smell, see, and feel everything he does in a distorted fashion. It's a lot all at once.

Alpha Addison's men were right, Cain did use the river to get away. I can feel the water still soaking in his fur.

He doesn't say a word to me, but his mind isn't silent. I can feel his hatred as he tries to push me back out and flee as quickly as he can. I try to concentrate, and the images become less distorted.

He's not in the river, but not quite on dry ground. The more he runs, the more muddy it becomes. The air starts to smell sulfuric, and the trees switch from pine to cypress.

"The swamp," I call out, turning to face everyone. "He's going south, further into the swamp. You can follow me."

When I start to move, Mateus grabs my wrist gently and whispers, "Ariadne, you shouldn't shift in the condition you're in."

"He purposefully told Lilith not to touch anything important," I murmur, still a world away from being able to emotionally process anything about my time in the prison. I shift, shredding my bloody clothes in the process.

Everyone else follows suit as I sprint downriver. I push myself as hard as I can, forcing every muscle in my body to work in spite of its pain. Some of the other wolves start to fall behind, but Mateus makes it a point to stay next to me.

This is it, the final stretch. I can end this now and finally move on, finally be able to sleep at night without having to worry about what lurks in the dark.

When we get further into the swamp and mud dirties our coats, I have to slow down to focus again on my connection with Cain. I follow the images until, in the distance, I see his wolf, sprinting as fast as he can down the river.

Alpha Addison surges forward, and his men follow, forming a sort of formation. I try to speed up, to get to Cain before they can, but I can't. My body is slowing down.

Mateus's wolf passes me, turns around, and comes to a stop in my path. When I try to go around him, he easily gets in my way again, blocking me from interrupting Cain's capture. I growl at him, but he doesn't back down.

Pissed, I look at Mateus, ready to put my best effort into getting around him, but then his eyes catch mine. His stupid blue eyes, the ones that always seem to tell me so much even when he isn't saying anything, seemed to be begging me to give up.

I look away to the fight behind him. Cain, tired out from fleeing, is putting up a decent fight against all 20 of Alpha Addison's men, but he's doomed.

I look back into Mateus's eyes, the same damn eyes that had so much conviction in them when he told me he loved me, and defeated, I hang my head.

    Minutes later, Cain is finally subdued.

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    A cell. They locked me up. They told Mateus he needed to meet with the Council, threw some clothes at me, and then, they put me in a damned cell.

I had already thought this whole thing wouldn't play out in my favor, but now, the situation felt hopeless. My fate may not be the same as the one chosen for Cain, but I feel like I'll at least be locked up for a few years.

At least Cain isn't here with me. They've hopefully shipped him to council headquarters already.

    "God, what did Cain do to you?" someone asks after a few hours.

    "Dylan!" I exclaim when I look up and see him outside my cell. "What are you doing here? You can't be here. They can't find out about you too."

    "I came with Mateus. They don't know who I am; they just think I'm here because I am your beta, or was... How could you come here without me?"

    "I didn't want Cain to hurt anybody else, Dyl," I respond, quieting my voice at the sound of someone coming down the hall. "I just wanted it over."

    Dylan looks to his right. Whoever it is is still out of my view. "Mateus," he greets, and I freeze. "What's the status on the trial?"

    "There's not going to be a trial," he says, stepping into the space in front of my cell. His eyes survey my body. They narrow at the blood stains that, even now, are growing on my new clothes every time a wound reopens. He continues, "Alpha Addison and I talked them out of it. The council respected our input. They just want to ask her some questions, and she'll be free."

    Dylan's sigh of relief in response is audible, and then after that, there's just silence.

Mateus turns to me, crosses his arms, and just stares at me with a blank face.

"I'll um... leave you two to um... talk, I guess," Dylan says awkwardly before leaving.

"Please send a medic" Mateus mutters to him on his way out.

Dylan's footsteps fade as he walks down the hall and closes the door behind him, but both of us stay silent.

I don't know what to say to Mateus. I don't know where to start. I'm guessing he knows a good amount, considering it seems like he played a large part in the raid earlier.

    The air conditioner rattles on, and the mechanical noise practically roars in the silence.

    Finally, I get uncomfortable beneath his emotionless stare. It reminds me too much of when we first met. "Mateus, I'm sorry."

    He doesn't respond, only stares at me for a moment, like he's waiting for me to say something else, before shaking his head. "Someone from Addison's pack will escort you to the council. I'm leaving for California."

"Oh."

He looks at me for a few seconds more, expectant almost, and then walks away, out of my sight and down the hall. As the sound of his steps fade, I feel my heart crush, caving in on itself.

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I struggled for a while with how I should have this chapter play out. I REALLY wanted Ariadne to kill Caine, but I also realized that this would make her character's development just completely reverse. If she always did whatever she wants to do, then she's never compromising with Mateus. Sure, she definitely should not do everything just because he approves of her doing it, (and he realizes that), but always doing whatever she wants regardless of Mateus is pretty selfish.

Question of the week: Did Ariadne make the right decision?